Evaluation of the potential end use of oils produced by the ROPE® process from California tar sand

The oil products from Process Development Unit (PDU) run SPR--111 were evaluated for potential end use. This particular run was a fiveday test using Arroyo Grande tar sand from California as the feed to the PDU. The distillate from knockout #2 was hydrotreated to produce a series of process intermediates. One of the intermediates was evaluated as a feedstock for the production of transportation fuels. The heavy product oil was distilled to produce a residue that was evaluated as an asphalt. Analysis of a selected process intermediate shows that it is not suitable for the production of gasoline or for use as a gasoline-blending feedstock. In addition, the process intermediate was not suitable for the production of aviation turbine fuels. This is because the oil contains a high concentration of alkanes. However, the presence of alkanes does make the oil valuable as a feedstock for the production of diesel fuel. The heavy oil product as received from the PDU is not suitable for the production of an asphaltic material because it contains a large amount of very fine solid material. However, after filtration and distillation, the application of ASTM D-3381 specification tests to the +410°C (+770°F) residue shows that all of the requirements are met except for the trichloroethylene solubility requirement. This value is below specification because a small amount of mineral matter was not removed during the filtration process. In addition, the residue had a very high aging index, which suggests that it is quite susceptible to rapid age-hardening or molecular-structuring and that a pavement constructed of this material will become brittle at a faster rate than a conventional asphalt. Results from successive freeze-thaw cycling also show that the residue is comparable to petroleum asphalts when it is coated on the same appropriate aggregate.